Any Time
by ChaotixFan
Summary: After nearly being killed by a Hunter, Francis realizes just how much his teammates care.


_Any Time_

Louis, Francis, Zoey, and Bill quietly trudged down the alley. They were tired, hurt, and in serious need of some ammo. Francis, now leaning heavily on Louis' shoulder, had sustained the most damage. Let's just say he had a little 'incident' with a Hunter.

"Come on," Louis said, trying to break the eerie silence. "We're almost there!"

That, in fact, was true. The team was almost at the safe room. They could see it, standing about 100 feet away.

_Please don't let there be any Special Infected_, Zoey thought to herself. _Please!_

Luckily for them, there didn't happen to be any Special Infected in the area, and the number of Common Infected wasn't too high either. They got to the safe room in a matter of seconds. Louis helped Francis sit on a chair, while Zoey pulled out a medi-kit.

"You got it?" Louis asked. "Because Bill and I are gonna take first watch if you're all good."

Zoey nodded. "I think I can handle it. You and Bill can go take first watch. Be careful, though."

Bill reloaded his shotgun, as did Louis, and they both headed out. Louis took one more quick glance behind him before closing the heavy red safe room door.

Zoey then turned her attention back to Francis. He didn't look so good. His left leg was cut up pretty badly, and his right arm wasn't doing so well either. The biker leaned back in the chair, sighing loudly in pain. He closed his eyes in an attempt to block out the pain, and seeing by the look on his face, it hadn't worked.

Zoey quickly pulled out some pain pills. She enclosed them in her fist, then gently tapped Francis with her closed fist. He opened his eyes, staring at the former college student angrily. She opened up her fist and held the pills out to him. He looked at them, back to her, then at the pills again. Francis held out his hand, and she put the pills into his waiting palm.

The biker swallowed the pills, and Zoey started to patch him up. She worked slowly, trying not to cause him further pain, and could see the pain pills had done their job. The look of pain Francis had worn upon his face disappeared, and Zoey certainly did not want to make it reappear by pulling a bandage too tight or pressing down on wound too hard or something else. She didn't want to mess up.

The room had been filled with silence ever since Louis and Bill had gone; neither the biker nor the ex-college student said anything. After another minute, Zoey was finished and stepped back. She turned around and searched for a bottle of water, quickly finding one and stepping back towards Francis. She handed it to him, and he took it. Drinking the water eagerly, he was glad to feel the cool liquid flow down his throat.

"You okay now?" Zoey asked him lightly, breaking the long silence shared between the two. She sat down on a crate in the corner, leaned back into the wall, and crossed her arms, all in one swift motion.

Removing the bottle from his lips, Francis nodded. "Yeah, I think I'll live." He chuckled lightly to himself, shaking his head. "That Hunter got me pretty good, didn't it?"

Zoey nodded. "Gave us quite a scare there, Francis."

Francis stopped his chuckling and stared at her. _Quite a scare? _He questioned in his head.

Zoey caught him staring. "What?" she asked, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

Francis lowered his gaze and shook his head. "It's nothing'…"

"I don't believe you. You have to have a reason for staring at me like that!"

"I told you. It's nothin'."

"Was it something I said? Something I did? What, did I not patch you up right? Do I need to fix something?" Her onslaught of questions was innocent, and he could tell she cared. He heard the hint of worry in her voice, the nervousness of thinking she had done something wrong when she was trying to help him.

He shook his head. "No, I'm fine. You did a great job on the healing. It's just that…you kinda took me by surprise when you said I gave you guys a scare back there, almost dyin' and stuff…" he admitted, and he wished he wasn't being so open about this. What if Zoey laughed at him?

Now it was Zoey's turn to stare. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I didn't know you guys cared so much…"

Zoey smiled. "Francis, we're a team now…wait, no, scratch that. A family. Families need to look out for each other. If you died back there…" Zoey paused, frowning, and shuddered at the thought. "…I'm not sure what we would have done. We would be lost without you. Francis…"

He stared. "Really? Gee, I guess I never realized how much you guys care. I suppose we _are_ a family now, and you're right. Families need to stick together."

Zoey smiled. Standing up from her crate, she stretched and yawned. "I think I'm gonna get some sleep…I think you should, too."

The biker nodded, and Zoey gently helped him into a sleeping bag, before getting in one herself.

"Good night, Francis. Don't let the zombies bite!" Zoey joked.

"I think you better watch it yourself there, missy!" Francis said, returning the action. Zoey giggled.

"Night Zoey. Thanks for patchin' me up."

"No problem. Any time. Thanks for lookin' out for me all the time…"

"Any time…"


End file.
